Baby Love
by Triana2
Summary: The tale of one couple, and just how far they will go to fulfil their dreams of having a child. AtemuxYugi. Contains Yaoi, Mpreg, and spoilers for the last episode.
1. Chapter 1

**Pairing: **AtemuxYugi

**Warnings:** Contains spoilers for certain events at the end of the series.

This fic involves **Yaoi** (male x male relationships), **Mpreg** (male pregnancy), and possibly other concepts not suitable for younger readers.

I accept no responsibility for anyone who is underage or hates Yaoi etc. and is still reading.

Rating - R

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yugioh. I am merely using the characters from it (and I don't even have permission).

**

* * *

Baby Love **

Chapter 1 

When they thought about it afterwards, wondering just when it had all started, they would have to say it started before the radio and cinema adverts, and even before the New Year's visit to the Shrine. It had all started years earlier, in Egypt, with six little words.

The ceremonial duel was over. Pharaoh Atemu had lost to Yugi, and was walking slowly towards the opened doors to the afterlife. This was just too much for Yugi to bear.

"Please don't go. I love you!"

Atemu stopped, not daring to believe what he had just heard. He turned round and looked at Yugi who had dropped to his knees with tears streaming down his face.

"Partner" he whispered. "Yugi, do you truly mean that?" Yugi nodded.  
"Please stay with me," he pleaded. Atemu knelt down by Yugi and gathered him in his arms.  
"I will stay," he said. "I will stay here with you my partner."

With those words, the doors to the afterlife closed.

As soon as the doors had closed, the whole room started to shake as though in an earthquake. As the roof started falling in everyone made a unanimous decision to leave the tomb as soon as possible. Yugi attempted to save the puzzle, but as he started towards it, the ancient tablet disintegrated and fell through a hole in the floor, taking the millennium items along with it. Their magic lost forever. The group ran up the stairs of the tomb, out into the hot Egyptian sunshine, and stood trying to recover from their narrow escape.

"Hey, you're still here!" Jounouchi exclaimed, pointing at where Atemu was stood by Yugi. Everyone gathered round the extra member of their group, wondering how he still had a body and, once they thought of it, wondering how on Earth they were going to get him through passport control when they returned to Japan.  
"He's still quite short, maybe we can hide him in a suitcase," suggested Honda laughing. His suggestion was immediately met with whack to the head from Anzu.

"Pharaoh, perhaps we can help to some small extent," said Ishizu, "My brothers and I still have the contacts that helped us get legal existence in Egypt. With a little persuasion, we could get you some travel documents. It would only be a temporary solution, but at least you would be able to travel home to Japan."

"Seto could help you," said Mokuba suddenly, "with all his contacts, I'm sure that he can get all the stuff that you need".  
"Of course," said Jounouchi. "I bet that Kaiba could get a full set of fake documents for old Atemu here." He draped his arm round Kaiba's shoulders. "How about it pal? Fancy doing a favour for all your friends?"  
Kaiba made a noise of disapproval as he removed himself from the unwelcome contact.  
"I don't really see why I should bother helping you. What is there for me to gain?"  
"Big Brother they're our friends" said Mokuba, plaintively.  
"Kaiba," came the firm voice of Atemu, "if it is true that you can help us, perhaps we can come to some arrangement."

After all the bargains had been struck, Kaiba had agreed to furnish Atemu with full and complete legal existence as a Japanese citizen (and the documents prove it), in exchange, he gained possession of all three god cards, the promise of unlimited duels against Atemu (who he still wanted to beat), and, until he won his title back, unlimited official title matches against Yugi - who was after all the OFFICIALLY recognised King of Games.

It took 3 days staying in Cairo to acquire a passport and visa for Atemu, during which Sugoroku and Yugi contacted Yugi's mother to explain the situation and let her know about the newest member of the family.

Eventually, the group was able to travel back to Japan. Ishizu, Malik, and Rishid saw them off at Cairo's main airport as everyone passed without incident through security to the departure gate.

They finally arrived back in Domino, and went their separate ways home. Atemu was feeling very anxious about meeting Yugi's mother for the first time. After all, until a few days earlier, she hadn't even known of his existence, and now she had suddenly been told the full story of all of his and Yugi's adventures over the past couple of years. It was an awful lot to take in all at once.

He grimaced, remembering how angry Nara Mutou had been upon being told of the dangers her son had faced on account of the young pharaoh. He was not looking forward to facing her wrath in person.

Perhaps because of his expectations, upon meeting Yugi's mother, Atemu was surprised to be greeted warmly by the woman and welcomed into the family. He was less surprised however, when less than a minute later, he was again being harangued about all the life-threatening situations he had caused Yugi to be placed in over the years, the fact that he had dashed all hopes of the family name being carried on by turning her perfectly normal son gay (Yugi had tried protesting at that point), and most of all, the fact that up until three days ago she hadn't even been told about any of Yugi's dealings with him. Through all of this Atemu just stood with his head bowed, saying nothing - although he wasn't sure that there was much he could say in response to a lot of her arguments. Once her tirade had finished however, he was again startled when Nara reached forward and gathered him into a hug.

"Thank you for taking care of Yugi." she said as she released him. "I can tell that you obviously mean a lot to him, so I'll overlook your actions in the past. But, if you ever put my son in that kind of danger again, you will find yourself wishing you were back facing the worst of your enemies." At some point in the conversation, Nara had rolled up a magazine, and as she brandished it angrily in his face, Atemu found himself believing every word of her threat.

"Anyway," everyone blinked in surprise as her mood shifted again, and followed as she headed for the stairs, "since you're going to be living here now, I bought you a few of the things you're going to need. They're in Yugi's room, which is where you will also be sleeping. And I mean sleeping! The two of you will not engage in any goings on in this house. Do you both understand?" As they were led into Yugi's room, Yugi and Atemu replied that they did indeed understand.

"The room isn't large enough to comfortably fit a second bed, so I bought a futon. I'll let the two of you argue it out as to who's going to end up sleeping on it."

"I didn't know what size you would be for clothes, so I thought we really should wait to buy those. I did buy a couple of changes for you though. I tried to get things that would fit you no matter what size you were. Hairbrush, toiletries, towels, school supplies." Mrs. Mutou indicated each of the purchases as she named them. "You are planning to go to school aren't you?" she asked suddenly.  
"As soon as I get the proper identification documents." Atemu assured her.  
"Good. Once you know where you're going, we'll get your uniforms. Now as I was saying..."

"Finally she left." Yugi sighed as he leaned back on the bed. He and Atemu had finally been left alone. "I swear my mother's not normally like that. She usually acts really normal."  
"I know." smiled Atemu. "Remember, I know all about her from when I was in your mind."  
"Oh yeah. Still, some of the things that she said. I can't believe that she actually accused you of making me gay." Yugi looked over to where his partner was still stood and chuckled evilly. "So, other me, want to engage in some goings on?"

The next day, after the longest clothes-shopping trip of their lives, Yugi and Atemu arrived at Kaiba corp. headquarters and made an appointment to see Seto Kaiba. A short half hour wait later, and they were led into Kaiba's office.

Kaiba was, as usual, all business. Yugi and Atemu had barely had a chance to greet him when he handed them a sheaf of forms and told Atemu to fill them in.  
"I thought it would be easiest for you if I base your new identity, as much as possible, on your actual identity," explained Kaiba. "Once you've answered all the questions, I should have enough information to create a new past for you. Then it will simply be a matter of contacting a few people and inserting you into the system. After that, I can obtain the necessary documentation for you. Now leave. Come back when you've finished the questionnaire." Kaiba waved them out of his office.

After they handed back the completed questionnaire, Kaiba briefly looked through it before slamming it down on his desk and glaring at the ex-pharaoh.  
"Is this some kind of joke to you?" he growled. "Some of these answers are totally useless."  
"I answered every question honestly, and as well as I could," said Atemu as he glared right back.  
"Father's name – Akunumkanon?" Read Kaiba. "Mother's name – Djedmaatesankh?"  
"That's correct." affirmed Atemu "Although my mother was often called Djed for short."  
"Well we can maybe work with those," grumbled Kaiba.  
"But what do you expect me to do with this ridiculousness? Date of birth – The third day of Thoth in the fourteenth year of the reign of King Akunumkanon. Just what is this 'Thoth' nonsense supposed to be?"  
"Thoth is not nonsense," protested Atemu. "It was the first month of the year. It began the season of Akhet when the Nile started to flood."  
"Maybe you could find out when Thoth would have been on our calendars Kaiba," suggested Yugi brightly.  
"It wouldn't be necessary if Egypt had just been using a sensible calendar like everyone else." said Kaiba.  
"Well I'm sorry, but it was the only calendar we had," was the sarcastic reply.

"And this answer. Blood type – Unknown. How can you not know your blood type?"  
"Because it hasn't ever been checked. After all we didn't have anything like that in Egypt." Atemu smirked. "It was three thousand years ago Kaiba. Blood was just blood. It was red, and if too much of it came out of you, you died. It was all quite simple."  
"Then I guess we will just have to check your blood type then." Kaiba was also beginning to smirk as he phoned for one of his company nurses to come to his office. "I do hope you're not afraid of needles at all."

**

* * *

Authors note. **

Many thanks to Seers atemu for beta reading this.

I seem to be quite slow at writing, and once University starts up again in September, I will be very busy with my studies. Because of this, I am planning to update this fic once a month.

If, and only if, it goes longer without updates, feel free to start badgering me about it.

Flames WILL be ignored. However, comments, advice, and constructive criticism are all welcomed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Replies**

Nora D : Thanks. I'm trying really hard with characterisation. Feel free to tell me if any of the people start going really OOC. And there will be an explanation for the pregnancy.

Brave Rae : I'm not sure which bit you're confused on, but hopefully any questions will eventually be answered in the story. The only planned pairing is the one given, so as long as the 'a' in y/a isn't Atemu, you should be okay. I'm mentioning more about the 'once a month' updates thing in my notes at the end.

ladygodess : Um, about the Atemu name. Sorry. I guess that's technically a spoiler from near the end of the series. Commiserations on the slowness of the Aussie TV networks. Even the UK is further along than that (Although only on satellite TV – I think our terrestrial TV is still stuck somewhere in the duellist kingdom arc).

silverwolf407, Cherry Romancer, seers-of-a-lost-paradise, AngelPrincess17, Buka2000, Futile Faith, ravenclaw525 : Thanks for the lovely reviews. Here's the next chapter.

Also many thanks to all the other people who are reading this.

**

* * *

Pairing: AtemuxYugi **

**Warnings: **This fic involves **Yaoi** (male x male relationships),

**Mpreg** (male pregnancy), and possibly other concepts not suitable for younger readers.

I accept no responsibility for anyone who is underage or hates Yaoi etc. and is still reading.

Rating - R

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yugioh. I am merely using the characters and situations, without permission, for the non-profit entertainment of myself, and hopefully others.

I also do not own "Knave : the collectible card game". However, I do have permission to use it within this story.

Any references to "Bakura" during this story are referring to "Ryou Bakura"

---

**Baby Love**

Chapter 2

A week had passed, and Yugi and Atemu had returned to Kaiba Corp. to collect the documents for Atemu's new identity.  
Once they arrived, Kaiba handed them the documentation, and began to talk them through the details of Atemu's new name and history.

"As much as possible, I used the details that you gave me last week. Poor as they were! Your name is now Atemu Yami. I thought that the Japanese word for darkness would be an appropriate choice for your new family name. After all, you and those other spirit freaks always seemed so fond of playing those so-called 'Games of Darkness'"

"You are the only child of Akunumkanon and Djedmaatesankh Yami. Your parents are both recently deceased, and were both Egyptian born naturalised citizens of Japan."

"My people were eventually able to calculate your date of birth. Obviously, we just used the day and month and substituted an appropriate year. After all, no one is going to believe that you were born three thousand years ago.

"So your birthday's on the 18th of June," read Yugi. "That's just two weeks after mine." Yugi started to laugh. "Other me, with this date of birth, you're YOUNGER than me."

Atemu smiled at his partner's amusement.  
"Well, give or take three thousand years anyway," he responded.

Seemingly ignoring the two, Kaiba continued.  
"School records were obviously going to be a problem. Saying that you have just transferred from a particular school runs too many risks of people actually making enquiries at that school. To that end, you have been out of the country with your parents for the past two years, and were educated by various private tutors during that time."

"Since you will also need health insurance, I have arranged for you to be covered by a standard Kaiba corp. staff policy for one full year. My people will work with you to build up an accurate medical history for you. After that of course, you're on your own. You will be expected to find and finance your own health cover."

"I have included a brief written life history for you. Memorise it."

"Now, since I am a busy man, I would appreciate it if you would leave. I will contact you next week to make arrangements for our duel, as per your side of our agreement. After all, I do want to defeat the two of you as soon as possible."  
"We'll be looking forward to it Kaiba."  
"And thank you for doing all this for Atemu," added Yugi as they left.

-

Atemu was muttering his fabricated history to himself as Yugi and Anzu pulled him along the road.  
He and Yugi had done their own research in order to add extra details to it, and had even made up a few 'memories' that Atemu could talk about if anyone ever asked him about his past. Nevertheless, he was still somewhat nervous. This was going to be the biggest test for his modern life story.  
It was Atemu's first day of school.

They had successfully enrolled him at Domino high school the previous week.  
After changing into indoor shoes at the entrance, Anzu bid the two farewell and carried on to the classroom, while Yugi escorted Atemu along to the school office.

"You'll be fine Other me," he said comfortingly. "Everyone's nervous on their first day at a new school. No one's going to notice a thing."  
"The office will give you your timetable and introduce you to your teacher, who will take you to your class. I have to go now or I'll be late, but we'll all meet up with you at lunch. By the front entrance?" Atemu nodded agreement.  
"I'll see you all at lunchtime then," he said. Yugi started to leave, but turned back for a moment.

"Oh, and Atemu?"  
"Yes?"  
"No wearing your jacket as a cape." He grinned. "After all, you don't want to be put on clean up duties as punishment for breaking the school dress code."  
Yugi hurried off, leaving a somewhat confused young pharaoh in his wake.

Yugi looked up as the teacher entered, then started as Atemu followed him in.  
"No way," he grinned. "This is great!"  
"Class, we have a new student joining us today. Would you please introduce yourself and write your name on the board."  
"My name is Atemu Yami. Pleased to meet all of you."

-

The lesson came to an end. Whilst the class waited for their next teacher to arrive, they all clustered around the new arrival.  
"So, are you a relative of Yugi?" asked one of the students.  
"No. I'm staying with Yugi and his family, but we're not related," replied Atemu "The Mutous were kind enough to take me in when my parents died, since they were good friends of the family."  
At this tragic piece of news, everyone seemed to start talking at once.  
"Your parents died?" "You're an orphan? That's so terrible." "How did your parents die?"  
"Please, everyone," Atemu said trying to quieten down his clamouring classmates. "Please, I really would rather not talk about my parents deaths at the moment."  
"Hey, at least give the poor guy a chance to grieve" put in Honda.  
"Yeah, the whole thing hit him pretty hard you know," added Jounouchi, continuing the pretence.  
Fortunately, the teacher arrived at that point and the class settled down.

-

After school, they arrived back at the shop and had to relate the day's events to Yugi's Mother and Grandfather, who were relieved that things had actually gone okay.  
"So, am I going to be receiving reports of you being top of the class from now on?" questioned Mrs. Mutou smiling.  
"I doubt it," chuckled Atemu. "You should understand, that virtually everything I know about modern history, mathematics, and life in general, I got as a result of sharing Yugi's memories," he explained. "My grades at school are probably going to be very much the same as his."  
"Oh no, another underachiever," groaned Nara. "What did I do to deserve this?"  
"Of course since I'm living here, that does mean that Yugi and I can study together, and improve both our grades." Atemu assured her.  
"Study dates!" yelled Yugi grinning.  
"Why am I not reassured?"

---

It was New Year. Atemu's first. The whole gang had made plans to meet up at the Shrine when they went with their families. Bakura wasn't able to be there since he was off spending New Year with his family, but had promised to phone each of them that evening.

As they reached the shrine, Yugi spotted a small blue teddy bear lying on the ground. Picking it up, he looked around him. Just a short way up the path to the shrine, there was a couple with a pushchair.  
"I'll just be a moment," said Yugi, as he ran ahead to where the other family was.  
"Excuse me, is this your toy?" he asked.  
"Oh, yes." exclaimed the woman. "It must have fallen out of the pushchair. Thank you so much for finding it." She dusted it off and tucked it into the chair next to the sleeping baby. "Taro would have been so upset to lose Teddy."  
Yugi looked at the baby and smiled. He thought that Taro looked very cute.  
"Well, we wouldn't want you to be sad, would we" he said gently, crouching down by the pushchair. "How old is he?" Yugi once again addressed the parents, although his eyes never left the child.  
"Nearly four month's old." answered Taro's father proudly. "He's our very first child."  
As Yugi's family reached them, the couple thanked Yugi again, and carried on to the shrine.

They had met up with the others at the shrine. The large group then went to pray for a successful coming year. The five teens then left their families to talk, and went off to have a bit of fun.  
As they went to have their fortunes told, Yugi glanced over to the family he had returned the teddy bear to. The baby appeared to have woken up, and was now being carried. He smiled, although there was a slightly sad quality to it.

After that, they laughed as Anzu dragged Atemu off to show him where to make wishes if he wanted them to come true. As he followed, Yugi wistfully looked over at where the Baby Taro was being fed a bottle on a bench by the shrine.

Yugi and Atemu sat on a bench. Their friends had gone to get some food, and the couple were waiting for them to return.  
Atemu glanced over at Yugi. He was once again gazing at the young couple and baby, that they had met earlier. 'Why is Yugi so interested in that family?' wondered Atemu 'He looks upset too. I wonder why?' He decided to ask.  
"Is there something the matter Yugi?"  
"What? No, nothing."  
"There must be something. You've been watching those people almost the whole time since we arrived"  
Yugi looked across the square to where the aforementioned young family were walking towards the exit, and sighed.

"I suppose it just finally sank in. I'll never get to have that."  
"Never get to have what?" Atemu looked at Yugi, seeking further explanation.  
"That." he nodded his head over at the departing couple. "A child, a family of my own."  
"I never really thought about it, but I suppose I did always assume that one day I would have a child. And I'd get to take care of him as he grew, and I would teach him the joy of games and puzzles, just as Grandpa did with me."  
"But I'm never going to have that." Yugi closed his eyes in an effort to stop the tears that were beginning to well up in his eyes.

Atemu drew Yugi closer. Holding the smaller duellist's head against his chest, he began to stroke his hair lovingly.

"I suppose that I also thought that I would eventually become a father," mused Atemu. "As the ruler of the kingdom, it was even seen as my duty to produce an heir to carry on as pharaoh when I was gone."  
"I remember when I was small; my father would spend time with me, comfort me when I was upset or hurt, and guide and teach me in the way a pharaoh was supposed to act for when I succeeded him."  
"I suppose I did expect that I would also get the chance do the same for my children."  
"But with everything that happened, I never even had time to find a wife, let alone father a child." He looked at Yugi thoughtfully.

"Yugi, do you have any regrets?"  
"Regrets?"  
"Yes. Do you regret doing any of this? Being with me?"  
"I could never regret being with you. I love you." Yugi thought a moment. "You don't regret staying do you?"  
"No. Although I do regret that neither of us can have the children that we thought we would."

Yugi was quiet for a minute, just listening to his love's heartbeat.

"It's kind of funny really," he began, "I don't think I was particularly gay growing up. I mean, I had a really huge crush on Anzu for so long, and I've never once been attracted to Jounouchi, Honda, or Bakura. But you were different. We were such good friends, and with the whole 'sharing a body' thing, we were so much closer than most people could ever dream of being. I guess somewhere in that whole 'saving the world' business,"  
"Several times," interjected Atemu.  
"Several times," smiled Yugi. "At some point, I guess, I stopped thinking of you as 'just a friend', and started to fall in love with you."  
"Same here," murmured Atemu, placing a gentle kiss on the top of Yugi's head. He had a thought.

"Isn't it possible that we could adopt a baby?"  
"Not really," came Yugi's reply. "You know as well as I do, that same sex couples aren't looked upon really favourably in society. We just don't fit the mould of what is expected. It's not going to be likely that we'll be allowed to adopt a baby, when there are plenty of normal average couples out there."  
"That's just stupid. You're kind, loving, and always thinking of others before yourself. Any child would be blessed to have you as a parent." Yugi smiled at that.  
"I wish society thought that way," he whispered.

When the others arrived back, they found the two of them sharing a tender hug, as they attempted to come to terms with their dashed hopes and dreams.

---

Three years after Atemu gained his body; the gang were all still great friends.  
Yugi and Atemu both worked two days a week at Kaiba corp. as games systems testers (amazingly, at Kaiba's request.), and of course worked at the Turtle Game shop the rest of the time, where they also still lived.

The game shop was doing very well, thanks mainly to the duelling reputations of its two employees.  
Despite his duels against Kaiba becoming ever more challenging, Yugi had somehow managed to retain his title as 'King of Games'.  
Although, with the number of close calls that he and Atemu had both had (and even some draws), Yugi and Atemu knew that it was possibly just a matter of time before Kaiba did win against Yugi. Of course, that didn't mean that he would necessarily KEEP the regained title for long.

Anzu never did get enough money saved up to finance going to a dance school in New York. However, she didn't let that keep her from following her dream of becoming a dancer, and was able to get a place at the Domino City School of Dance.

Honda was working as a store clerk at a small supermarket in the centre of town. As he himself said, it wasn't as glamorous as other jobs but he was providing an essential service, since people always needed to buy food.

Bakura was perhaps doing the best of all. During his final few months at school, he had come up with an ingenuous new card game, which he had somehow managed to get Kaiba corp. to produce for him. 'Knave' had become quite successful although it was nowhere near as popular as duel monsters yet. He was however living quite nicely off the royalties that he was making.  
After school, Bakura had applied for, and actually passed the entrance exams for Tokyo University. Consequently, he spent most of his time away in Tokyo studying and attending lectures, although he wrote frequent letters to all his friends from school with whom he had shared such amazing adventures.

Jounouchi had actually managed to get a job where his tough guy attitude came in useful, and was working as a security guard at Domino museum. This did lead, however, to the group having many opportunities to tease him about his fears of all the possibly cursed artefacts at the museum.

The big change in the group however, was the fact that Yugi and Atemu had got married to each other. Just before they turned 19, they had wed in a nearly traditional Shinto ceremony, surrounded by just their family and their closest friends. They had had some problems trying to arrange a wedding, since none of them really seemed to cater for same sex couples. However, the priest at the local shrine had contacted them and said that he was truly impressed by the love and devotion that the two shared, and that he would be willing to rewrite certain parts of the wedding ceremony especially for them.  
Atemu had taken Yugi's family name, and was now Atemu Mutou. The two had celebrated their first anniversary a couple of months earlier.

-

"What film are you all going to see?" asked Atemu. The two were getting ready for the next day. Yugi was going to the cinema with the gang, whilst Atemu would be staying behind to watch the shop.  
"I don't know yet. We're going to see when we get there."  
"I wish I could go with you all."  
"Hey, you're the one who called heads on the coin toss." Yugi smirked. "If you'd called tails, I'd be staying instead.  
"I know," sighed Atemu. "It's just a shame that Grandpa had to be away tomorrow."

They entered their bedroom. The largest object in the room was their double bed, which, most surprisingly, was a wedding present from Nara Mutou.  
Yugi remembered her words when she gave them the bed.  
"As long as the two of you really have waited, you have my blessing." Yugi couldn't help chuckling at that. With two parental figures, one of whom entered his room without knocking (on a regular basis), and one who had no hesitation about listening at doors, he and Atemu had very little choice _but_ to wait.

Mind you, that didn't mean that they didn't experiment a little when they were alone in the house. He had smiled thinking about some of the less than innocent activities that had taken place on his old bed. It really didn't help that his mother had at that moment added  
"Just try to keep the noise down." He swore that the colour of Atemu's face, and probably his own, had matched his hair at that point.

As they prepared for bed, neither of the young men was aware that the next day would change their lives forever.

**

* * *

Authors note. **

Many thanks to Seers atemu for beta reading this.

The card game 'Knave' that I had Bakura inventing, is actually a real game, and is easily found online by typing "knave t c c g" into Google.

A few people have commented that they don't like my plans to update only once a month. Neither do I. However, this is the first thing I've ever written, and it did genuinely take me most of the month to write (then there's beta-ing, and editing etc.). I'm hoping to get a little faster with practice, but since I start up at Uni again this month, I will have lectures, assignments, working so I can buy those little luxuries (like food & electricity), and will have a lot less spare time. The once a month thing is to allow me to actually update this on a regular basis. And, as I said in chapter 1, If it goes well over a month without an update, feel free to start pestering me.

Flames WILL be ignored. However, comments, advice, and constructive criticism are all welcomed.


	3. Chapter 3

**Pairing: **AtemuxYugi

**Warnings: **This fic involves **Yaoi** (male x male relationships),

**Mpreg** (male pregnancy), and other concepts which are possibly not suitable for younger readers.

I accept no responsibility for anyone who is underage or hates Yaoi etc. and is still reading.

If you get seriously squicked out by discussions of medical procedures and similar topics, you may want to skip over a couple of thousand words after the words "(Three weeks later)".

Rating - R

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yugioh. I am merely using the characters and situations, without permission, for the non-profit entertainment of myself, and hopefully others.

I DO own the Zetalife Foundation, and all associated personnel. They are the intellectual property of me! Please do not use them without my express permission.

Any references to "Bakura" during this story are referring to "Ryou Bakura"

**Authors note.**

This would probably be the bit where I start apologising for taking so long to update. Really, really sorry. Lots of things just got in the way (Writers block, Assignments, illness, getting hopelessly addicted to a computer game sorry, and so on).

Since have banned review replies, I'll be putting them on Live Journal once I post each new chapter. The page is h t t p / triana2(dot)livejournal(dot)com (I'm sure you know the drill – take out the spaces and add the dots in the specified places).

I don't know how cinema's work in Japan (Or America), so the one in my fic is based off the UK ones I've been to.  
There is usually one ticket checker as you go into the screens, and then you have long corridors with all the doors leading to the individual theatres.  
Once the film begins there is about 15 mins of adverts (like the ones on TV), then the film trailers, and finally, the film itself.

I want to thank Nora D. and Renoirkmk for pointing out the mistake I made with Atemu and Yugi's birthdays (I mixed them up), this has hopefully now been fixed (If I can work the chapter editing tools right at least).

Many thanks to all the people who are reading this.

**Baby Love**

Chapter 3

The next day arrived, and with it came the insistent beeping of the alarm. Yugi reached out his hand and searched blindly for the clock, still mostly asleep. Atemu opened his eyes and looked over at Yugi, who had his eyes shut fast, and was failing miserably in his attempts to locate the source of the alarm. Reaching across him, he silenced the clock, at which point, Yugi burrowed back under the covers and seemed to fall completely asleep once again. Atemu shook his head wryly, amused at his husband's behaviour, and got out of bed, heading off to the bathroom for a shower.

Atemu made his way back into the bedroom and woke Yugi, who sleepily wandered off to the bathroom whilst Atemu got dressed. After having breakfast together, Yugi and Atemu opened up the game shop. Yugi stuck around till around mid-morning, then left to go meet the gang at the cinema.

0 0 0

Yugi and his friends were queuing up for drinks and snacks at the cinema and after quite a bit of discussion, they had all finally decided which film to see. Now all they had to do was decide on what snacks to buy. Or, as in the case of Jounouchi, Bakura, and Honda, what to leave for the other customers. The three of them seemed to be buying enough food for a siege, never mind just a two-hour film. Although as Anzu watched them trying to carry everything, she did have to admit, that with the way Jounouchi and Bakura's appetites were at times, there probably wouldn't be much of that food left by the time the film even started.

Since there was still quite a bit of time before the film was due to start, the group chatted quietly amongst themselves. After all it had been a couple of months since Bakura was able to visit, and so there was lots of gossip to catch up on, and finding out how all their lives had been going lately. The lights finally dimmed, indicating that the film was going to start. Although it didn't really start; it was really just the start of the obligatory fifteen minutes of pre-film adverts.

Since the film STILL hadn't started, the five friends carried on chatting somewhat, whilst also watching the ads a little. About ten minutes in, their attention was drawn to the screen by one of the ads.

The advert was saying things such as:

"We are searching for brave pioneering young men between the ages of 20 to 30 years of age, to take part in experimental pregnancy trials." "Help bring hope to the childless. Help solve the problem of Japans falling birth-rate." "Give the gift of life, and receive the greatest gift anyone could wish for; a son or Daughter!" It was also showing a group of professional looking people in white lab coats working in a medical clinic.

Yugi was absolutely captivated! These people were looking for men to volunteer for pregnancy related clinical trials? It sounded to him, very much like they were actually planning for the men to somehow get pregnant. He didn't know if that was possible, or even if that was what they were planning; but the one thing he did seize on, was the fact that they said the volunteers would have a child afterwards. They would become fathers.

The advert soon ended and a medical company logo was flashed onscreen along with a contact number for interested people to call. Yugi's mind was racing. Was this his chance? If he applied to this company, could he, a man, give birth to a child? Could he have a baby? And more importantly, would he be able to keep it? Raise it with his husband? Could he and Atemu truly have a family? He made his decision.

The friends were all talking about the advert. Actually, everyone in the cinema was talking about it. Anzu was saying what a great idea she thought it was. And how it seemed to her to be a perfect idea, to make the men do some of the work instead. Jounouchi and Honda were both saying that no way were THEY going to get knocked up anytime soon. Anzu naturally had to comment that they were obviously too scared of the idea. Bakura as always stayed calm and just simply commented that it was an interesting notion, but that it wasn't for him. Then commented that he didn't think he had childbearing hips anyway. The guys all laughed at that one.

It was then that Yugi finally spoke.

"I'm going to apply." He said quietly. The others fell silent instantly.

"WHAT?" All four of them were staring at Yugi, shock evident on their faces.

"I'm going to apply." Repeated Yugi, once the rest of the cinema goers were no longer looking over at the noisy group.

"Yugi, are you serious?" Jounouchi asked incredulously.

Yugi nodded and looked at his friends. They were still looking at him as if he had grown a second head. He sighed, and started to try and explain to them, his longing for a child. He explained to them a little about his former hopes, the ache he felt inside, and that empty hole in his and Atemu's lives which they had had to accept would never be filled. The film started as they talked, but was barely even acknowledged. Yugi tried to keep his explanations brief (They weren't exactly in the best place for such a conversation, and other people were now trying to watch the movie).

"Well, if you really want to apply, you know that we'll be behind you all the way." Said Anzu. The others nodded in agreement.

"So, did you get the contact info?" asked Anzu. Yugi's face fell as he shook his head. He hadn't written down the phone number. Truth be told, he hadn't even really noticed what the company was called. Upon Yugi's confession of this fact, Bakura spoke up.

"Perhaps we could ask the cinema staff for the name of the company." He suggested.

"There must be a record somewhere, of who is advertising at this cinema." Anzu looked doubtful.

"I don't think that they're going to give out that sort of information." She said. "And anyway, the general cinema staff probably wouldn't know anything any way. It would be the management who would sort out advertising."

At this, Honda pointed out that the ordinary staff WOULD know something. "They work at the cinema." He reasoned "They probably get into all the films for free. They'd be sure to know, since they've probably all seen the film half-a-dozen times already. They would at least know the company name by now."

At this point, Jounouchi had a really bright idea. "You know, we don't really need to go to all the trouble of tracking down cinema staff in the know. We should just watch the advert again. This is a big cinema," he stated. "There's a whole bunch of other screens showing this film. We could just wait a little, and then go out from our screen, and walk into one of the others that's starting a little later, and re-watch the adverts, get the contact details, and then actually watch the film, from the beginning, afterwards." He gestured at the screen, where the film was still being ignored by the group.

They all thought that was the best idea, and so that's what they did. Anzu managed to find out which screen had the next showing of the film, and its start time, by making the excuse to the ticket checker that she was going out to the refreshments counter in the foyer to buy an ice-cream. Whilst there, it was a simple matter to glance over at the list of film times at the nearby ticket booth. Half an hour later, five people nonchalantly strolled out of one screen, and into the one almost straight across the corridor.

0 0 0

Atemu was in the game shop still. After a brief rush around lunchtime with all the children going home from school, it had quietened down once more. Atemu decided to restock the shelves whilst he had some time, and went out into the main part of the shop. As he worked, he listened to the radio and sang along with some of the songs when he knew them. After a while, there was a break for adverts. One of the adverts suddenly caught Atemu's notice. He listened closer to the compelling sound of the voice coming from the radio.

"Always wanted a child, yet couldn't have one? You're not alone! The Zetalife Foundation is searching for brave, pioneering young men between the ages of 20 to 30 years of age, to take part in revolutionary new medical research on pregnancy.  
Our research will help bring hope to the childless, and could perhaps even solve the problem of Japans falling birth rate. Give the gift of life, and receive the greatest gift anyone could wish for - a son or Daughter of your very own.

Join us as we stride boldly towards the future, and be part of something amazing.  
Applicants should be male, non-smokers, between 20 to 30 years of age, and in good health. Just phone 03-5865-1095 to contact the Zetalife Foundation for more details."

"Did I hear that right?" wondered Atemu "Was that advert suggesting that men could have babies?"

He wondered if he was perhaps mistaken in what he thought the advert was about. Was that sort of thing actually possible? More importantly, HOW could it be possible? Atemu once again marvelled at the wonders of modern day medical know how and medicines, compared to that which he had grown up with. Back in ancient Egypt, most of it would have been considered miraculous, and nothing short of magic.

"A man somehow bearing a child." Atemu pondered the situation. He felt that it really was a huge thing to decide to do. "I wonder if they will actually get any volunteers?"

He mused on the topic for just a little while. Meanwhile, the ads finished and music started up again. After a few minutes, one of Yugi's favourite songs came on the radio. As he sang along, Atemu smiled, thinking about his husband and all the good times they had shared. The song ended and was replaced with a slow song that talked about two people pulling together through all sorts of hardships and adversities. Atemu recalled some of the trials that he and Yugi had battled through.

There had been Duellist kingdom, where the two of them had worked together to defeat Pegasus at his own game, and by doing so, had rescued the captured souls of Grandpa and the Kaiba brothers. Then of course, there was Battle City, where Yugi had been so supportive of his quest to enter the tournament and find his lost memories, and he had been so proud of Yugi through all the battles against Malik, when he was trying to kill Yugi and his friends. Of course, dealing with Malik was Childs play compared to Dartz and his Doom organisation. And because of his actions in that one duel...

Atemu thought about the horror he had felt, as Yugi pushed him out of the way of the Orichalcos, and allowed it to take himself in place of Atemu. And after he regained consciousness, and realised that Yugi was truly gone, he had felt such utter despair. He had never felt as truly helpless as he had at that moment. Except, he realised, for that one other time...

It had been New Year. He had been enjoying his first truly festive visit to a Shrine, but there had been something just a little off with Yugi's behaviour ever since they had arrived at the Shrine.

Several times during the day, he had noticed Yugi looking over at a young family that he had encountered on their arrival. He had eventually just decided to ask Yugi about his odd behaviour.

It had seemed to him, that Yugi had been almost in tears as he described the terrible sadness that he was feeling over the fact that they would never be a complete family. He had tried his best to comfort his then boyfriend, but he could easily tell that the deep longing that Yugi had just revealed to him was a very long held desire, so dear to Yugi's heart. He had wished that there could be something, anything, that he could have done to fulfil what was quite obviously one of Yugi's fondest wishes. Atemu recalled how at that moment, at the shrine, he would have given absolutely anything to grant that wish. To see Yugi's face lit with joy, instead of filled with grief. It just about broke his heart to see his treasured Yugi so despondent.

Atemu was brought out of his remembrances of the past by a sudden realisation. This was it! This was his chance! If these people were truly going to be doing what it seemed they were, then if he took part in this trial, perhaps he could make both his and Yugi's dreams come true. They could maybe have a child together. Maybe they COULD be a complete family after all. He nodded to himself, as he came to a decision. First he would need to wait till the advert was repeated in the next break, so that he could get the phone number. Then, he would apply!

0 0 0

Tucking the piece of paper in his pocket, Atemu sighed happily. It had taken almost two hours for the advert to be repeated. But, he finally had the phone number.  
After the first two advert breaks had passed with no sign of the needed advert, he had started to become a little anxious. Every time the adverts had started, he had hovered near the radio, listening intently. He wasn't sure that the customer he had been serving was too impressed though, after she had had the misfortune to be in the shop when the adverts began playing, and he had virtually ignored her. Fortunately, she had accepted his apologies.

Even more fortunately, the shop had been empty for every other advert break, otherwise, he suspected a lot more apologies might have been required. He shrugged, it couldn't be helped; getting the number had just been so vital.

0 0 0

Yugi and friends left the cinema talking mostly about the film, and set off walking to the game shop. Before they arrived, however, Yugi came to a halt.

"Guys," he began. "Please don't say anything to Atemu about that advert; the medical trials one. I really think that that's something I need to talk with him about when we're alone."

After promising to keep quiet about it, the group entered the game shop.

0 0 0

After the gang had gone home, Atemu and Yugi cleared up. They put the used plates in the sink to wash later, and sat down with drinks. Both young men seemed somewhat nervous and fidgety, neither one speaking.

Yugi broke the silence first.

"Atemu, there's something that I wanted to discuss with you." He said.

"Actually, there was something that I wanted to talk to you about also." Responded Atemu. "But you first."

"Well," began Yugi nervously. "When we were at the cinema today, there was this advert for a medical company."

"That's a coincidence." thought Atemu.

"They were asking for men to volunteer for a medical trial. And, well, you're going to think I've gone mad, but it seemed to me that they were saying that the MEN would be pregnant."

Atemu's mind had been working full speed as Yugi talked. "This advert, was it for the Zetalife Foundation?" He asked.

"Yes. Have you heard of them Atemu?"

"There was an advert on the radio. I think it may have been the same as yours. They were asking for men to volunteer for pregnancy trials."

"I didn't know they had ads on the radio as well. Did you think they were saying they would make the men pregnant?"

"I have to admit that it did sound like it. Although it just seems so impossible."

"Atemu, what would you say if I told you I wanted to apply for it?"

"You do?" Atemu looked slightly stunned for a moment, and then laughed. "I'd actually decided to apply for it myself." Now it was Yugi's turn to look stunned.

"You had?"

Atemu took Yugi's hand in his own. "Of course. I'd do anything to have a child with you. Even carry it myself." He grinned as he placed a hand on his perfectly flat stomach. Yugi grinned back, then looked serious once more.

"I don't know exactly what this trial is all about, but the advert DID say that the men would have children at the end of it." Yugi said. "The one thing I do know is that I do want to do this. I want to try. To at least try to have a child. I'm going to volunteer for the medical trial."

"Then even if it's you volunteering instead of me," Said Atemu "I will still be supporting you every step of the way."

"You don't think it's a hoax of some kind do you Atemu?" asked Yugi suddenly. "It's just that it DOES all seem a bit incredible; except it all sounded so genuine too."

"I don't know. If it is a hoax, it's a cruel one. Surely though, no one would be so callous as to offer such a hope to people and then just take it away. Perhaps we could find out some more information about the company when we phone up." Yugi nodded at that suggestion.

"Atemu, I just had a terrible thought. What if it is real, but they don't want me?" asked Yugi in a quiet voice. "What if they think I'm too short or that I'm not right in some other way?"

"They would be crazy not to accept you Yugi. I think you would make a perfect MOTHER." Yugi pouted slightly at Atemu's teasing, which just led to Atemu laughing and, leaning forward to quickly place a kiss on Yugi's lips. "Being serious though, you do have a point. Perhaps I should still apply. After all, if we both apply for the program, there is more chance that one of us actually WILL get accepted."

"Although I've also had a terrible thought Yugi. If we go through with this, we're going to need to sit down and explain it to everyone."

"Oh that's okay. They already know. I told them at the cinema." Yugi smiled at his husband.

Atemu smirked. "What about your Mother and Grandfather?"

0 0 0

(Three weeks later)

After getting off the bus, Yugi and Atemu stood for a moment, gazing across the road at their destination. The Zetalife Foundation.

After phoning the contact number, and leaving their details, they received a phone call arranging for them to attend a presentation at the Foundation, to fully explain the project.

The duo entered the building, and at the security desk they gave their names and showed their ID, and were directed up some stairs to a reception area.  
Upon introducing themselves to the receptionist, Atemu and Yugi were each handed a sheaf of forms and told they needed to read and sign them before they would be permitted into the room where the presentation would be held. Finding that they merely forbade them from divulging the details of what they were about to be told, the two young men signed the forms and were ushered into the main room.

Yugi and Atemu looked around them. There looked to be around seventy men in the room, and a small handful of women, who the pair thought were possibly wives of some of the men. The room had several rows of chairs grouped together facing a podium at the front of the room. Most of the people were sat down, and Atemu and Yugi did likewise.

It was time for the presentation to start. Yugi and Atemu had spent the wait quietly, each of them lost in their thoughts. Hopes and fears reaching their peak. Now everyone was eagerly waiting for someone to come and tell everyone what exactly the medical trial was actually going to be about. Before too long, a man in a suit came out of a door at the front of the room, and stood at the podium. Those people who weren't already, sat down. As the man waited for everyone to be fully seated, a few more people came out of the door at the front, and sat on some seats at the side.

The first man began speaking.

"Thank-you for coming here today Gentlemen...and ladies. Before I begin, I would like to remind you all of the secrecy agreements that you all signed when you arrived here, and to point out that the Zetalife foundation will enforce the strictest penalties for anyone breaking those agreements."

As they sat listening to the opening statements, Yugi's hand sought Atemu's. Atemu squeezed it gently. He could understand how Yugi must be feeling right now. After all, he was feeling the same way. This was it! For almost a month, they had been hoping and dreaming and wondering. This was the moment when they would find out if what they had barely even dared to dream, could possibly happen. Admittedly, the whole idea sounded too far fetched to even be possible, but after all the seemingly impossible things that had happened with the Millennium Items, He and Yugi couldn't help but hope that maybe, once more, they could get a miracle. They listened attentively as the presentation continued.

"First I should perhaps introduce myself. I am Doctor Ibon, head of the project behind this trial. Those of you who are accepted as volunteers will of course be seeing a lot of me and my staff. Now as for today, we will be having this main presentation to explain the project, after which, we will answer any questions which you may have. And, after that, any of you that do not wish to take part may leave.

The remaining men will be asked to fill in medical questionnaires, and will undergo a brief health check, and a short interview. All these will be used to make the final selection of the twenty five volunteers accepted for the trial. Throughout this time there will be staff on hand to answer any further queries and concerns that may arise."

"Now I'm sure that you're all very curious about what exactly these medical trials will entail. Quite simply, the men who take part in the trial will all be making medical history! The aim of this trial is to allow any man to become pregnant, and carry a child to full term!"

At this statement, there were a few gasps heard around the room. Although, many of the men had already come to the same conclusions as Atemu and Yugi had. As the doctor spoke, Yugi's hand was gripping Atemu's tightly. As he gripped back, Atemu fervently hoped that one of them would actually get accepted for the trial. He didn't mind whether it was he or Yugi as long as one of them was successful.

"I don't care what it takes, or what I have to go through," he thought, "if I can give Yugi the child he so longs for, it will be well worth it." He turned his attention back to where Doctor Ibon was continuing.

"The big question that I'm sure you must all want to ask now is 'How is this even possible?' Thanks to some recent advances in medical research, it has become possible to create near perfect replicas of certain internal organs. Although this research has not yet reached the stage where we can create artificial hearts, and other similar vital organs, it HAS reached the stage where this trial becomes possible."

The Doctor started indicating various slides detailing figures and techniques, to highlight the processes he was explaining, as he continued his speech.

"I should tell you now, that the volunteers on this medical trial will be required to undergo some surgical procedures. You will each need to give a blood sample, for the purposes of tissue typing. This will then be used to create an artificial womb which will then be implanted into each of the volunteers. The process of creating these artificial organs will take about three months. Although the organs will be grown specifically to match each of your tissue types, the process has not yet been perfected, and so most of the matches will be very slightly inexact. This of course means that all the volunteers will need to have regular doses of anti-rejection drugs.

"After the operations we will wait six weeks, during which you will be carefully monitored for any complications or signs of rejection of the new organ. If all is going well, you will each be required to provide a sperm sample, which will be used to fertilise the donor eggs that will then be implanted in the wombs. And yes gentlemen, genetically these children WILL be yours.

"The resulting embryos will be implanted in you using a variation on standard IVF techniques.

"Now, as I'm sure you have all noticed, you're not women. As men, your bodies do not produce the same amounts of certain necessary hormones as a woman's body would. Because of this, starting shortly before you undergo IVF treatment, and continuing throughout the pregnancy, it will be necessary for you to have twice daily injections of hormones. There may be some non-pregnancy related side-effects from this, these will however, be only temporary, and will be fully reversible. Taking these hormones is NOT going to turn you into women.

"IVF treatments are not always immediately successful. If the IVF is not effective the first time, it will be necessary to repeat the process, but rest assured that the twenty-five men who are accepted as volunteers on this trial, will become pregnant, and will be the world's first pregnant men.

"Throughout the pregnancies, you will have full medical checkups every two weeks, to ensure that everything is progressing smoothly, and that there are no complications.

Also, for the duration of the trial, and the first five years after the children are born, there will be full and extensive health cover provided for you and your families, free of charge.

"When it comes time to deliver the children, the births, as you might imagine, will all have to be caesareans.

"It will not be possible for the wombs to remain functioning within you indefinitely, and it is probable that they will eventually need to be removed, if this is the case, more surgery will be required, but this will be kept as minimal as possible. However there is a small chance that removal will not be necessary."

As his presentation finally started to draw to a close, Doctor Ibon paused. He looked around the room at the prospective volunteers before continuing with his final statements.

"Now that you have all heard the basics of the trial, we will answer any questions that you might have. We will then hand out medical questionnaires for you to fill in, and commence with the interviews and medical checkups. Refreshments will be provided in the other room whilst you are filling out the questionnaires."

0 0 0

Atemu had already finished filling in the very in depth medical questionnaire, and was now off having his blood pressure checked; among other things. As he continued filling in his own questionnaire, Yugi thought about the question and answer session that had followed the presentation, and in particular, the final question that had been asked.

One of the volunteers had wondered about the media. About how come, with all the recruitment adverts that there had been, the details of the project hadn't yet hit the headlines? And what would happen once the media actually did get hold of the story? After all, with something as world changing as male pregnancies, the press would surely have a field day.

Upon being asked about media attention, Doctor Ibon had conceded that with something as revolutionary as male pregnancies, it WAS just a matter of time before the media got hold of all the details of the project, and released the story. He explained that the Zetalife Foundation had with great difficulty, managed to keep the media from getting hold of the story already, but that eventually they would, without doubt, find out the full details of the trial. He also said that once that happened, the identities of the volunteers WOULD be discovered. The doctor then assured the men that the press did not – as of yet - have any actual details of the project. They knew from the advertising campaign that 'something' was happening, but all they had was little more than rumours. Thanks mainly to a lot of careful misdirection by the Foundation in response to all media enquiries.

It was also revealed that not all the people who had enquired about the trial had been invited along today. All the volunteers who were there that day, had had background checks to ensure that they didn't have any connections to the media services, and so were not likely to be media spies. Yugi had had a slight moment of panic at that point - thinking about Atemu's fabricated past – but realised that the mere fact that he and Atemu had been invited, meant that it must have passed scrutiny. Kaiba's people had obviously done an exceptional job all those years ago. Not that he would ever admit that to Kaiba!

Doctor Ibon also added that once the media found out the full aims of the medical trials, the project would lose a lot of its secrecy. It was almost certain that the identities of the participants would soon come to light, and they would likely be in the media spotlight for much of the remainders of their pregnancies. So, anybody participating in the trial had to be mindful of the fact that they were going to lose a lot of the privacy in their lives.

There was a rather long silence after that, as if the group was contemplating that thought. And indeed, as he looked around now, Yugi felt that there appeared to be far fewer men now than there had been for the presentation. In fact, it looked as if barely 50 men had stuck around to fill in the questionnaires, and be interviewed. Although, he supposed, that might have more to do with some of the things that would be required of them for this trial.

He couldn't really blame them. All the different surgeries that they would need... As Yugi readily admitted to himself, the very thought of it made him feel scared beyond belief. As he continued to answer the questions, he wondered absently if Atemu felt the same way.

0 0 0

The next day, the various scientists in charge of the pregnancy project were going through the details gained on each of the candidates from the questionnaires, medical check-ups, and interviews, trying to decide on the final twenty-five men. After several of the applicants in a row had just been eliminated on medical grounds, one frustrated scientist finally came upon a candidate that seemed absolutely perfect.

He showed the file to his colleagues, a couple of whom were less than enthusiastic about the choice.

"That's one of those two men that were married to each other." said one of the doubters, upon being questioned about their reluctance. "When we did the initial background checks on the volunteers, it was found that two of them were actually married to one another; a gay couple. They both got invited along anyway, but I'm just not sure whether either of the Mutous would be very suitable for the trial. With all the controversy that this program is going to attract, do we really want to deliberately invite extra debate by having one of the participants being part of a gay couple? However perfect they might be as candidates, I simply don't think we should have either one of them."

After that rather blunt statement, the first scientist put the folder containing the candidate's details to one side.

"We are running out of possible test subjects' here." he said, gesturing at the growing pile of folders, from the definitely eliminated volunteers. "If it carries on like this, we're going to be hard pushed to get the necessary number of suitable participants. If that's the situation, controversy or not, you might HAVE to accept one of them onto the trial."

**Authors note 2.**

Many thanks to Seers atemu for beta reading this.

If I go another few months without updates, feel free to start badgering me about it.

Flames WILL be ignored. However, comments, advice, and constructive criticism are all welcomed. Also, feel very free to point out any big glaring mistakes that I make (How else am I gonna learn?)


	4. Chapter 4

Pairing: AtemuxYugi

**Pairing: **AtemuxYugi

**Warnings: **This fic involves **Yaoi** (male x male relationships),

**Mpreg** (male pregnancy), and other concepts which are possibly not suitable for younger readers.

I accept no responsibility for anyone who is underage or hates Yaoi etc. and is still reading.

Rating - R

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yugioh. I am merely using the characters and situations, without permission, for the non-profit entertainment of myself, and hopefully others.

I DO own the Zetalife Foundation, and all associated personnel. They are the intellectual property of me! Please do not use them without my express permission.

Any references to "Bakura" during this story are referring to "Ryou Bakura"

This chapter actually starts the day BEFORE the end of ch.3.

Chapter 4.

Atemu and Yugi arrived from the Zetalife presentation, still discussing between them the best way to explain about the project to their friends and family without violating their secrecy agreements, and entered the shop.

"We're home Grandpa." called Yugi.

"Welcome home." came the reply from two directions. Recognising Anzu's voice, the pair went over to greet her.

Anzu, who had arrived just ten minutes earlier, was restocking the display of the latest schoolyard craze, Buggy Build'ems. (Constructible models of various species of beetles that children could dismantle and reassemble with interchangeable parts so that they could also mix and match parts to create a range of fantastical looking insects.)

Yugi and Atemu started to help her in her task. Whilst they worked, they spoke about why Anzu was there, and she explained that she came over after her classes to see how everything went for them that day, and mentioned the fact that Jounouchi and Honda would be coming over after they finished work.

"Well," asked Anzu after a few more minutes, "How DID everything go? What exactly are they going to be doing? Did one of you get accepted for the trial?"

Since Jounouchi and Honda were going to be over in just over an hour, the two duellists decided to be cruel, and not tell anyone anything about their day, until everyone was able to be there – including their Grandfather, who would also have to wait until close of business and close up the shop for the day - even though there really wasn't that much that they would be allowed to say anyway.

Almost an hour and a half later the group (plus Nara and Sugoroku) were sat together in the living room, in a very similar scene to the one that had happened about two weeks earlier...

Cue Flashback

It was Sunday afternoon, and the day after Yugi and Atemu had seen and heard the strange adverts wanting medical trials volunteers.

With Yugi's Grandfather tending the store, the whole group, with the addition of Yugi's Mother, was once again gathered in the living room of the game shop.

(Bakura had been staying with his family in Domino & hadn't yet returned to Tokyo).

The previous day, Yugi and Atemu had broken the news to their family, of their startling decisions, after which, the pair had decided to invite their friends over again, so that they could all talk properly about the situation (and tell them the news about Atemu also deciding to apply)

Yugi had insisted that the first order of business was definitely to tell the gang what he and Atemu had decided, and Atemu had wholeheartedly agreed with that assessment. Though neither one had any idea how they best should do it.

Once everyone had gotten settled, with refreshments, an awkward silence fell over the group. No one quite sure of what exactly to say first.

After a few moments, Jounouchi decided to take the plunge.

"So," he began. "Did Yugi tell you all about what happened at the cinema?"

"He did." confirmed Atemu. He chuckled "Yugi also gave a wonderfully vivid description of your reaction when he said he would apply."

"Well it was kind of a shock," laughed Anzu.

"I could tell." Responded Yugi with a grin.

"Can you blame us?" Asked Honda. Bakura nodded in agreement.

"You have to admit, it was a very _'interesting'_ advert." He said. "And then to suddenly have one of our friends, completely out of the blue, say he was going to apply..."

"They were all like 'WHAT?' said Yugi to his mother laughing, giving a brief and somewhat over-exaggerated impression of his friends' reactions from the day before.

"Oh, I wish I could have been there to see that." Said Atemu as everyone laughed at Yugi's performance.

"Ah, but if you HAD been there, I wouldn't have been." reasoned Yugi. "One of us had to watch the shop, so I'd have been back here listening to the radio."

"Then you would simply have had to wait till we all returned, before springing the news on our friends." said Atemu, seeing where Yugi was trying to head with the conversation.

"I guess so," agreed Yugi. "After all, I would still have heard the advert."

Greatly enjoying the looks of confusion on their friend's faces, Atemu began to explain.

"There was an advert on the radio that sounded very similar to the one Yugi described from the cinema. For the same medical company."

"Tell them what you thought of it." said Yugi with barely disguised glee. Causing his Mother to chuckle as four expectant faces turned back towards Atemu.

"Well, it was very interesting of course." he said, echoing Bakura's earlier statement. "Revolutionary, in fact. That is, of course, if these trials are what they seem to be.

"It made me think about what it would mean for so many people.

And then... … I decided to apply!"

There was a moments silence as Atemu's final statement sank in.

"WHAT?"

Yugi broke into peals of laughter at this, whilst his Mother and Atemu were both visibly struggling to control their own mirth.

"That's it!" laughed Yugi. He gestured over at the stunned quartet. "That's EXACTLY the same look that they gave me yesterday. The same reaction and everything." Atemu laughed.

"I guess I DO get to see it after all." he said. "Of course," he continued, "At that point I didn't know about Yugi seeing a similar advert, and his decision."

"We talked about it after you left yesterday." said Yugi. "To figure out the best way to go about it. After that, we phoned the number from the ad."

"So, which one of you applied?" Anzu asked. Yugi and Atemu looked at each other for a moment, then Atemu spoke.

"There was some worry about how suitable they would find us. So we decided to increase our chances for one of us being picked, by both of us applying." Yugi explained further.

"We decided that it doesn't really matter which one of us gets accepted, as long as one of us does. It's the eventual outcome that's important. To actually have the chance to be parents.

"Really that's the ONE thing that we are sure about in this whole thing. Both adverts quite clearly stated that the men who took part in the project, would at the end of it, have a child."

"So they didn't tell you what the whole thing was about when you phoned up?"

"No. They said they would contact us with details of the meeting when they would give us all the details, and we could apply properly. Till then, we'll just have to wonder."

Honda looked considering for a moment, then started to speak.

"I know the ad made it sound like they were going to be doing something weird, but maybe the trial is something totally different. They said they were pregnancy trials, but maybe they're just testing out some new IVF techniques or something, and they need the guys to ..." Honda trailed off, finally remembering the presence of the women in the room, and looking somewhat mortified at where the sentence had been heading.

"Need the guys to what Honda?" asked Jounouchi evilly.

Flustered and turning red, Honda looked quickly between Jounouchi, Anzu, and Yugi's Mother. He scratched his head sheepishly.

"Well, they maybe need them to... erm... be donors?" he finished lamely.

"I wouldn't have thought it would be that." argued Anzu. "The ad really did seem to say that the MEN would get the children at the end. If it was some new IVF trial, why wouldn't the women who carried the babies be the ones to keep them?"

"Surrogates?" suggested Bakura. Anzu shook her head.

"That's the same argument really. They're not going to get women giving up the baby they've carried to just a man. They'd surely want it to go to a couple or something."

"Maybe the women ARE going to keep the kids." said Jounouchi. Perhaps this trial is going to involve some kind of sex-change operation. That way, the men will BE the women!" The group laughed at this idea, although Yugi and Atemu's had a nervous quality to it.

"Sex-change operation?" repeated Atemu weakly.

"Perhaps it's not an operation." suggested Bakura. "They could have come up with some kind of gender switching potion... er ...chemical."

"This isn't monster world Bakura." pointed out Atemu with an amused smile for the avid role play gamer of the group. "I don't think potions are quite that versatile in real life. Not for that kind of thing anyway."

"I don't think it would be too bad, boys" said Mrs. Mutou, standing. "I've always wanted a daughter!" With that, she stood behind Yugi with her hand on his shoulder. "Or a daughter-in-law!" the other hand went on Atemu's shoulder.

Yugi and Atemu froze in disbelief at the statements. Looking at the mingled expressions of shock, disbelief, and slight panic on the duo's faces, at the thought of being turned into women, the rest of the room erupted into laughter.

By the time everyone left, Atemu and Yugi had both been teased mercilessly about their possibly impending change of gender, including conversation on what the best names for each of them would be for after they became women.

In spite of this, the general feeling which prevailed amongst the group was that the men on the trial would remain men, but that somehow they were going to get pregnant.

Coming out of the flashback

"First of all," said Atemu, "we need to point out that we both had to sign secrecy agreements. Which means that we can't really tell you any real details about the trial."

"But," said Yugi slyly, "What we figure we can say, is that in those discussions we had before the meeting; about what we thought the trial might be doing, we came up with lots of different ideas." When Yugi paused a moment, Atemu continued.

"Well, it seems that what we hoped the basic aim of the trial would be, IS what it will be. The two of us aren't going to say any more about it now."

"Because we CAN'T say any more about it now." said Yugi. "At least not without violating the agreements we signed, and risking getting kicked off the trial."

"So does that mean that they did they accept one of you onto the trial?" asked Sugoroku.

"We don't know yet." Answered Atemu. "We all had health checks and interviews, and both of us signed up as volunteers, but they just want 25 men for the trial. So, they will be going though the lists of hopefuls this week, and choosing the ones they want.

We have to wait a week and then they will tell us which one, if either, of us, is on the trial."

"They also gave us this week as a sort of 'cooling off period,'" said Yugi. "If any of us change our minds about being on the trial, we can drop out during this next week by simply contacting them and withdrawing. But, they made it clear that to drop out, we MUST contact them during THIS week. I guess that after that, it would cause major problems for the trial."

"Not that we plan to of course." said Atemu. "Now since I'm sure you're all wanting to talk about the little that we've been able to tell you, and since it's best if Yugi and I aren't here to accidentally say far too much, how about we go finish the cooking, and leave you all to talk." As he and Yugi left the room, Yugi turned and spoke to the group.

"Oh, and guys? Since we really don't want to risk getting kicked off the trial before we're even on it, we're going to need all of you to not say anything about any of this after you leave here today. Okay?" He grinned. "ESPECIALLY if it's someone from the Zetalife foundation asking if we've said anything."

A week and a half later, Yugi and Atemu were just arriving home from their jobs at Kaiba Corp. Going around to the back of the closed shop, they went in through the house entrance.

Just as they were about to close the door, a deliveryman arrived with a special delivery letter for Atemu Mutou.

Atemu stamped the form to acknowledge that he had taken delivery of the letter, and then closed the door. He and Yugi stood in the kitchen looking at the closed envelope in his hand.

Screwing up his courage, Atemu opened the envelope and unfolded the enclosed letter.

"Dear Atemu Mutou." he read. "We are pleased to inform you that you have been found suitable as a candidate for The Zetalife foundation's medical trials in the field of pregnancy." Atemu skimmed through the rest of the letter, then looked up at Yugi, eyes shining. "I've been accepted. I'm on the trial!" He said. "Yugi, we're going to have a baby!" The two joy filled young men hugged each other.

"This is so wonderful," said the ecstatic Yugi. "We're going to have a family. We're actually going to be parents.

Thank you so much for doing this Atemu. I promise that I'll be right there with you all throughout your pregnancy. I'll help you in any way that I can, and, of course, I'll be happy to run to the shops at any hour to get you pickles and ice cream when you start having cravings" The two laughed, and hugged one another tightly once again.

"We have to tell everyone" said Yugi "Come on." Yugi took hold of Atemu's hand and pulled him along as he went in search of his family to tell them the good news. He found his mother first, setting the table for the evening meal. She looked up as the two you men ran into the room, skidding to a stop on the polished floor.

"Atemu's on the trial." cried Yugi jubilantly. "We're going to have a baby!" He showed her the letter. "Look. We just got the letter."

"Congratulations Atemu." smiled Nara, gathering both her boys into a hug. "I'm glad that one of you made it on to the trial." She looked at Yugi a moment before speaking again. "So your letter was to say that you hadn't got on to the trial Yugi?" she asked gently.

At this odd comment, Yugi and Atemu both looked confused.

"I didn't get a letter." said Yugi. "Just Atemu." Now it was Yugi's mother who was looking slightly confused.

"There was a letter for you. It arrived just a couple of hours ago. Special delivery.

"I have a letter too?" Exclaimed Yugi. "Where is it? I need to get it."

"It's in the kitchen. On the counter." Nara called after them, as Yugi raced off, Atemu following closely behind.

Sure enough, there on the kitchen worktop was an envelope addressed to Yugi. He picked it up and opened it with unaccountably trembling hands.

Yugi started reading the letter out loud.

""Dear Yugi Mutou. We are pleased to inform you that you have been found suitable as a candidate for ..." Yugi's voice trailed off. It was an acceptance letter.

"Me too?" he asked, his voice no more than a whisper. "They want both of us? We're actually going to have TWO children!" Yugi looked at his husband, eyes glistening.

"I never truly dared to dream that they would take both of us. I figured that they wouldn't go having two volunteers from the same family. Let alone, from the same married couple"

"I guess we'll have to share the errands." Atemu commented quietly, his eyes shining. "You get the pickles and I'll get the ice cream."

Yugi smiled at that, then thought of a sudden problem, and smiled more. This was the kind of problem he didn't mind.

"Hey Atemu, I know we already decided that if one of us got accepted, we would get rid of the desk in our room to make room for a cot, but we've both been accepted. We'll be having two babies now. Where do we put the second cot?"

**Authors note.**

Flames WILL be ignored. However, comments, advice, and constructive criticism are all welcomed. Also, feel very free to point out any big glaring mistakes that I make (How else am I gonna learn?) since this chapter is currently un-betad.

About the time it took for this update, grovels sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry.


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